Charles Grodin lands dad role on 'Michael J. Fox Show'

NEW YORK, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Charles Grodin says he has joined the cast of "The Michael J. Fox Show" sitcom, which is now shooting in New York.

Grodin and Candice Bergen will play Fox's broadcast journalist character Mike Henry's parents on the show.

"I filmed my first day [this past] Monday and they asked me to do it last Thursday," the 78-year-old actor and radio personality told the New York Post.

"I really don't understand [the timing] myself," Grodin said. "The most striking part is that I had never met Michael J. Fox until now. ... I was certainly aware of him and he's really quite inspiring. These are very long days [shooting the show] -- and I'm healthy it seems to me -- and then I look at this guy and it's amazing."

The show mirrors Fox's real-life experience of returning to the workplace after being sidelined for years by Parkinson's disease.